Broan Allure III: nothing exhausts through the lamps. The stronger the sucking setting, the more the steam angles to the back left where the outlet is. This model has the "boost" setting which pulls the hardest.

I put my hand up on the front of the unit below lights--more condensation at front with lower than with higher setting.

Bacon smell goes outside, not inside.

We had to work hard to install this product correctly; it's easy to install wrong.

Interesting results.

Still working on my pics. I posted a great thread about this awhile back and have searched 10 millions ways and am unable to pull up the old thread link. My pics are when I literally *disassembled* various portions of the hood to clean it (it's become a ritual)......

Here's one thread with a couple possibly helpful comments for new buyers about using back burners for better capture. It's definitely true that it's hard to capture steam that's not generated directly below these shallow hoods.

I also suspect that drafts in the room are important--might have to close doors to other rooms, close window, turn off heating unit, etc.

One comment made on the thread about importance of CFMs. Boost on the Allure III is 450 I think. Definitely pulls more than the other modes. Loudly though.

We bought this unit because of sound. Low settings are very quiet. We know ourselves too well: we won't use a unit that is always loud. We really like the "turn off by itself in 10 min." feature, but maybe they all have that now.

Here is a link that might be useful: one Broan thread 2009

I had the Broan Allure III. It was very easy to see it blowing steam away from the hood and out into the kitchen, even on the highest setting. Totally counterproductive. I actually took the hood apart to make sure the fan blades were installed correctly.

Replaced it with the Broan Elite E661. Big difference in performance. This really sucks. ;-) However, it does blow air back out around the lights. I solved that by placing a strip of aluminum foil around each light to block up the crack there. The mesh filters get dirty but there doesn't seem to be any undue grease or other crud on the fan blades or interior casing.

Mine is vented out the back directly through an exterior wall, if that makes a difference to you.

I have the K260 hood and just was planning to do the same test but it's futile. 8 qts of rolling hot water is not enough steam to show the problem at hand. The test definitely more a high saute - major smoke sort of test needed. Off to round II.

What the sad part is, that after hours, weeks, months of researching materials, countertops, sinks, appliances, tiles, etc - if not having this hi gauge ductwork installed....only to be defeated by a POS hood. More on my story later.

IF it was a easy fix, I would replace it. Unfortunately, everything is all buttoned up nice and snug and would require major work to even replace the hood, redo the duct, remove cabs and trim and out that back up, Hoping no cabs get damaged in the process of remove and reinstall, backsplash, etc.

I have the Broan elite E64000 with a roof-mounted blower and it exausts beautifully. The steam/smoke goes out the mesh screens, not around the lights. And the hood is mounted a few inches higher than the mfg suggests. I am really tall and did not want to bump my head on the corners so it's higher than called for, but works beautifully.